The Goalie Guru: Keep drills realistic with one puck

Robert “Cap” Raeder has been around the block. The
former University of New Hampshire All-American goaltender
(1972-75) from Needham, Mass., followed his Wildcats playing days
with a five-year professional career, which included a stint with
the original New England Whalers of the World Hockey Association.
He’s been an assistant coach and head coach at the collegiate
level (notably Clarkson, 1985-89) and an assistant coach with the
Los Angeles Kings, Boston Bruins, San Jose Sharks and Tampa Bay
Lightning.

So, it’s safe to say, Raeder has just about seen it all on
an ice sheet. And when it comes to practice plans for goaltenders,
he can boil it down to a simple, over-riding philosophy: One
puck.

“That’s all you need,” Raeder said. “And
that’s how many they play the game with.”

Obviously, Raeder is speaking figuratively, but his point is
clear and important. Hockey coaches need to let go of their
outdated love affair with having dozens of pucks in play during any
one drill (if the drill includes goaltenders). This is especially
true during shooting drills, which many youth hockey coaches like
to use as part of their warm-up regimen. Somewhere along the line,
the idea of goalies seeing a gazillion shots got ingrained in the
game’s coaching psyche. If 15 shots are good, 50 must be
better, right?

Nothing could be further from the truth. Think of it in terms of
simple math. If you have 20 kids lined up on the boards, racing off
on a breakaway or a give-and-go shooting drill, the goalie is going
to see 20 shots for each kid. If every kid takes five shots (not
many, if you ask them), the goalie sees 100 pucks. And that’s
before the practice is 15 minutes deep.

Here’s another favorite: the time-honored three-shot
drill, when three kids supposedly loop around three different cones
(at varying distances from the goal) to take three quick shots.
That looks great on paper, but it falls apart pretty quickly on the
ice. Faster kids catch slower kids and shoot simultaneously, often
without even looking up. The result is a goalie who, at best,
doesn’t know which shot to focus on, and, at worst, risks
getting injured by the shot he’s not watching.

Again, these drills simply don’t reflect hockey the way
the game is played. They do have some predictable results, few of
which are positive.

Rapid-fire shooting drills are a sure-fire way to produce a
shell-shocked netminder. And even if your goalie doesn’t
develop the yips, he or she is almost certain to develop bad
habits. Here’s why: Shooting drills like this are exhausting,
which translates to young goalies standing like statues in the
middle of their crease. They stop moving. They stop telescoping to
challenge the shooter, and stop recoiling properly to play the
deke. They don’t drop on low shots, because dropping into the
butterfly means having to get back up again (I challenge almost any
youth hockey coach to do that 100 times in less than 10 minutes).
And they completely stop thinking about rebounds, because all
they’re worried about is the next shot (and the next
one).

So, in a game, these same goalies aren’t as quick to look
for a rebound, or follow it, because it hasn’t become
habitual. They’re more likely to stay deep in the net,
because that’s what they’ve become accustomed to.
They’re as likely to recover on the wrong leg as the correct
one because, in practice, they consistently rely on their stronger
leg. And if they become puck shy from all the rubber they see in
practice, that problem becomes magnified in a game, when the
pressure is on.

Now, I understand the benefit for the kids taking a ton of
shots. That repetition builds critical muscle memory. But they
don’t need a living, breathing target. Get a shooter tutor.
They’re cheap, and easy to install. Even better, they
don’t lie. Instead of a puck slipping through an exhausted
Squirt goalie (who then has to watch the ensuing celebration), kids
will find that weak shots get stopped. The same way they get
snuffed out in a game, when they’re facing a goalie who
hasn’t been run into the ground.

The key is having coaches develop an eye, and some empathy,
really, for when a goalie gets tired. You can’t just ask them
— most youngsters would rather get grounded for a month than
admit they’re tired. But watch their body language. The legs
are usually the first to go, and it’s usually pretty obvious.
Tired kids simply stop skating.

Even better, think outside the box when it comes to shooting
drills. As Raeder says, emphasize drills that focus on one puck at
a time, giving the goalies time to follow rebounds and recover
correctly.

Here are two favorites that I borrowed from Brian Daccord while
working at his Stop It Goaltending camps this past summer:

Two-net drill (any place on the ice, along the boards). Set two
nets roughly 12 feet apart, facing each other, with a goalie in
each. A single player starts between the goalies. Coach (or another
player) tosses puck in, and the “player in the middle”
can shoot on either goalie. Rebounds are fair game, but bank shots
off the boards aren’t allowed. If the puck goes in, gets
covered up or goes out of play, coach yells, “New
puck!” First goalie to give up two goals loses (with a time
max of 20-30 seconds). Then players rotate.

High-low drill (using the full offensive zone, or one third of a
full sheet). The goalie is in the net, which is set up in the
crease. The coach has the pucks at one faceoff dot, and the players
line up behind the opposite faceoff dot. There are two orange cones
on the edge of that second faceoff circle, about 4 feet to either
side of the inside hash marks. The coach sends a pass between the
cones to the opposite face-off dot, with goalie following the puck.
The player receiving the pass must either drive below the lower
cone (an in-tight play), or high above the higher cone and across
the high slot for a shot. At game speed. The goalie reacts
accordingly, protecting the short side on the low drive, and
stepping to the top of the crease on the high move. Rebounds are
live, and goalies should be encouraged to follow all rebounds, even
those that go out of play (Tip: If the player drives high on his
backhand, encourage a backhand shot).

These are just for starters. I can’t see any reason why
coaches wouldn’t want to embrace these types of drills,
because they’re remarkably beneficial to position players as
well. They are battle drills, requiring quick hands, quick feet,
and quick decision-making. Every one gets a great workout, while
developing essential skills. And since the coaches control feeding
the pucks, they control the tempo of the drill. Which is a win-win
for everyone, including the goaltenders.

This article originally appeared in the October 2011 issue
of New England Hockey Journal.

Brion O’Connor is a Boston-based writer and owner of
Inspired Ink Communications. He is also a long-time hockey coach
and player, specializing in goaltending instruction. Learn more at
TheGoalieGuru.com. He can be reached at feedback@hockeyjournal.com